Lawn-tennis racket and the like



- June 10, 1924. 1,497,148

W. F. KENYON ET AL LAWN TENNIS RACKET AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 5, 1923 MD O MPW a MA, I I r Patented June l0, 1924.,

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WILLIAM FEARON KENYON, OF CAMDEN TOWN, AND ERNEST WILLIAM JOHNSON, OF

WEST KENSINGTON, LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS TO THE COUNTY SCREEN 001V]:- IANY, LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, A BRITISH COMPANY.

LA'WN-TENNIS RAOKET AND THE LIKE.

Application filed September 5, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM FEARON KnNYoN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, of 12 and 13, Miller Street, Camden Town, in the county of London, England, and ERNEST WILLIAM J OHNSON, a subject of the King of Great Britain, of 3, Spencer Mansions, Queens Club Gardens, \Vest Kensington, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Lawn-Tennis Rackets and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to lawn tennis rackets and similar implements such as those used for example in the games of badminton, lacrosse, and squash rackets of the kind in which the frame of the implement is made of tubular or semi-tubular metal.

According to this invention the said frame is tapered in such manner that the minimum diameter thereof is at the head or top of the implement, that is, at the part furthest from. the handle, while the diameter of the metal in the neighbourhood of the shoulder or bifurcation from the handle of the open part of the frame, is large enough to give sufficient strength at this part.

The handle is preferably made in known manner in one piece with the said open part by opposing and joining the ends or side edges of the tube, which may here be so shaped as to give the handle a hexagonal or other suitable cross-section, and short cross tubes arranged at right angles with each other may be secured in perforations in the handle to give stiffness thereto, improve the grip and provide ventilation. It may however be found convenient to make a tennis racket frame in two, four, or more pieces, as for example, two halves of the handle, and two curved tapering tubes joined at their wider ends to the handleand at their narrower ends to each other. The handle may alternatively be made of wood or vulcanite, or sheathed with vulcanite, with cross tubes or perforations as Serial No. 660,996.

aforesaid, while the open part of the frame Figure 2 is a section taken on the line '2 2 in Figure 1.

In the drawings A indicates the handle and B the frame of the racket, which is made of a tapered strip of metal bent into a" tube to form the frame, which tube is of the minimum diameter and weight at the head 6 and thence increases gradually to the shoulders b at which part the two meeting ends of the tube are partially opened'out and laid parallel with each other to form the handle, which may be of hexagonal cross-section as shown in Figure 2, and may be perforated to receive two or more short cross tubes C. Cusps b are provided adjacent the upper end of the Iandle and these cusps conjointly complete the curved outline of the opening of the frame,

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is In a racket for the purposes set forth, a substantially tubular metal frame tapering to its smallest diameter at the head of the racket and having parallel integral continuations opposed to each other to constitute a handle, such continuations being provided with integral cusps conjointly completing the curved outline of the opening of the frame.

WILLIAM FEARON KENYON. ERNEST VJILLIAM JOHNSON. 

